Abstract

Iron and zinc are essential minerals in human and animal nutrition. Low genetic variability has been a major bottleneck in genetic enhancement of the nutritional status of food crops and/or cultivars. Recently, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is gaining importance as a food in the world. We assessed the nutritional quality of 184 peanut mini core accessions along with four control cultivars to identify stable genotypes with high kernel Fe and Zn contents and with good agronomic performance for use in crop improvement. Significant genotypic and genotype × environment interactions were observed for both nutritional traits and all agronomic traits in the entire mini core collection and within each of subsp. fastigiata Waldron and subsp. hypogaea. Forty-eight accessions with higher Fe content, 43 accessions with high Zn content, and 23 accessions high in both minerals coupled with superior agronomic traits were identified. Among them, ICG 4750, ICG 7963, ICG 14705, and ICG 15419 were highly diverse and stable for either or both nutrients, produced pod yield similar to or greater than the control cultivars, and have high shelling percentage, except ICG 15419, and high 100-seed weight, except ICG 4750. High positive correlation between Fe and Zn contents in peanut kernels will be desirable and useful for breeders as selection for either of the nutrients would be effective for both the nutrients.

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